Re: Resumes with a sense of humour

["Anameier, Christine A - Eagan, MN" <christine -dot- a -dot- anameier -at- usps -dot- gov>]

Michele Davis wrote:
> A recuiter told me that my husband's statement about curry
> and map of India in his cube make him look like gun wielding loose
> cannon . . . .

In this job market, jokes about offshoring are likely to be laced with
bitterness. If you're a recruiter and you see a statement like that on a
resume, you may perceive--rightly or not--(a) some measure of anger, and
(b) an apparent disregard for what's considered appropriate behavior.
That can be an alarming combination. Sure, it seems a little paranoid,
but in this job market recruiters can afford to be as paranoid as they
want. 

Justin Ressler quoted a friend's cover letter, which said, in part:
> Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly
> defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious
> army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, and I am
> the subject of numerous documentaries. When I'm bored, I build large
> suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. . . .

This sounded awfully familiar. I did a quick Google search on the
snippet "ferocious army ants. I play bluegrass cello" and got 655 hits.
If you were going to hire somebody, would you hire a serious candidate
whose cover letter was a convincing sales pitch about what that
candidate could do for your company? Or would you hire the class clown
who copied-and-pasted a page-long chestnut like that into the cover
letter? Yeesh.

Christine